While I was away in April on our cruise the ABC aired Stargazing Live at the Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, and I’m very proud to say that my image and another member of SAS had our photographs showcased on the show :-)

Dylan O’Donnell had his stunning image of the Rosette Nebula shown with Brian Cox pointing out just what a beautiful image it was, and my photomontage of the rare Annular Solar Eclipse in Australia (which won a David Malin award in 2013) was shown and talked about by the whole panel of astronomers…how exciting was that :-)

If you still want to catch this unique live astronomy program, please go to the ABC iview website at: http://iview.abc.net.au/

~ Wednesday 19th April 2017 ~​What a great evening it was at the Broadbeach library when over 80 very interested people came to see and hear all about the latest news from the amazing mission to Saturn by the Cassini spacecraft.

The last phase of the mission, which is called ‘The Grand Finale’, has now started and on the 15th September the mission will end spectacularly when the Cassini spacecraft will rocket into the atmosphere of Saturn and the extreme pressure will destroy the spacecraft.

Mission scientists hope to capture so much more detail during the ring plunges and as the spacecraft heads into the gaseous atmosphere of this huge planet it’s hoped many more new discoveries will be made…

After a 20 year mission in space the journey will end for this incredible robotic explorer that earthlings have made which has indeed lifted the veil of many of the mysteries at Saturn….

In 2001 this stunning poster was produced in anticipation and excitement of what the mission wanted to achieve…I was sent this poster and much more by NASA’s JPL facility to help with all my SOC events over the past 15 years :-)

~ NASA’s Cassini spacecrafts mission to Saturn on the 19th April 2017 from 6.30pm to 7.30pm ~Presented by Noeleen Lowndes (SOC member in Australia)

I will be giving a presentation on the Cassini mission at the Broadbeach Library on Wednesday evening the 19th April 2017…this is my first SOC event for 2017 before Saturn is back in our skies for opposition on the 15th June.

If you live on the Gold Coast in Queensland please come along and hear all about this most amazing mission to Saturn, after nearly 20 years this incredible mission will end spectacularly on the 15th September when the Cassini spacecraft will plunge into the planets atmosphere!